


Winter Clothes

by lilbookofkell



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-11
Updated: 2014-12-11
Packaged: 2018-03-01 01:30:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2754515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilbookofkell/pseuds/lilbookofkell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Apparently a bunch of hoodies and a few baseball hats are “not proper winter gear” and telling Bitty that that’s all you have will make him say things like “you’re going to freeze to death” and “you poor sunshine child” and “oh my goodness Chowder don’t you own any boots?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Winter Clothes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Warblerland13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warblerland13/gifts).



When Chowder’s parents dropped him off at his Samwell dorm a little over two months ago they’d hugged him tight and told him he had to call every weekend, remember to take his meds, get plenty of sleep, have fun and study hard.

 

“Remember,” his mother had said, pretending like she wasn’t about to cry all the way back to the airport, “You can have fun, but you’re here to learn.”

 

Chowder definitely feels like he’s learned a lot since coming to Samwell, but he’s pretty sure most of it isn’t the kind of stuff his parents had in mind.

 

In the few months he’s been at Samwell he’s learned that coffee is gross (unless it’s pumpkin spiced lattes); that really cool, famous hockey players don’t like it when you ask about their future plans; that even though tequila sunrises taste ' _swawesome_ you should not have a lot of them, no matter what Ransom and Holster say; that sitting between Dex and Nursey on team movie night is both the _best_ and the _worst_ and that his hands actually sweat a  _lot_ when he's nervous; that you should always knock in the Haus because there’s like a fifty percent chance that there is a naked Shitty behind every door; and that having a friend who can bake is the greatest thing in the world and everyone should have one.

 

(He kind of wants to learn to bake himself just so Bitty can have a friend that bakes him stuff but he’s also pretty sure that Bitty would have a heart attack if anyone else tried to bake in his kitchen without him so Chowder sticks with just telling him his pies are the best.)

 

He’s also learned that a bunch of hoodies and a few baseball hats are apparently “not proper winter gear” and telling Bitty that that’s all you have will make him say things like “you’re going to freeze to death” and “you poor sunshine child” and “oh my goodness Chowder don’t you own any _boots_?”

 

Chowder doesn’t want to freeze to death when the weather gets cold - which is apparently going to happen _really_ soon, like, maybe even _tomorrow_ \- so that’s why he’s hiding behind Bitty as much as he can while Bitty explains to Jack that they need to postpone their checking clinic on Saturday so that Bitty can take Chowder shopping for “seasonally appropriate clothes.”

 

Jack looks more than a little annoyed. “Can’t he go by himself?” He asks. Chowder cringes - oh Jack _hates him_ \- but Bitty stands firm.

 

“Jack he doesn’t even have gloves. He needs help.”

 

Jack seems to ponder this for a few seconds and Chowder is pretty sure something horrible is going to happen. What if Jack yells at him for interrupting his and Bitty’s training schedule? Or worse, what if Jack yells at _Bitty_ because Chowder interrupted their training schedule and then they get in a fight and it affects the rest of the team and they lose all their games, all because Chowder didn’t have gloves-

 

“Well, I guess,” Jack says. He hesitates a second and then asks Bitty, “Want me to come with?”

 

Which is how Chowder ends up with Bitty and _Jack Zimmermann_ at the Samwell mall looking at winter clothes.

 

Jack is supposed to be helping Chowder find a coat, since he’s from Canada and it’s like, super cold there so he knows winter coats really well, but he seems to be spending most of his time suggesting silly looking hats for Bitty to buy.

 

“What about this one?” he says, holding up one that’s three different shades of neon green with a yarn mohawk on top. His voice is completely monotone but he’s got this twitch at the side of his mouth, like he’s trying not to smile.

  
Bitty laughs and swats the hat away when Jack holds it up to Bitty’s head. “That’s worse than the last one!” Bitty cries (which is saying a lot because the last one had this super creepy cartoon moose on it). “I swear if you don’t cut this out…” Bitty points a finger a Jack in what would be a threatening way if he weren’t laughing while he did it. And also if it weren’t, you know, _Bitty_.

 

After a few more back and forths - during which Bitty comments on Jack’s fashion sense and Jack teases Bitty about being a hockey player who hates the cold - Bitty goes back to looking for gloves for Chowder and Chowder goes back to looking at all the different types of coats. There’s one that looks a lot like the one Dex wears and he kind of wants to get it because Dex loans him his jacket all the time and it’s like the comfiest thing in the world, but he gets the feeling this jacket probably isn’t as comfy as Dex’s.

 

Also, would it be weird to get a coat just because it reminded him of Dex? That might be kind of weird, right? Unless it was actually a really good coat, in which case it would probably be okay because it wouldn’t be like he was getting it just because it reminded him of Dex, he’s getting it because it’s a good coat and it just so happens to remind him of his teammate.

 

He turns to ask Jack his opinion about the coat, but stops.

 

Jack has stopped chirping Bitty, and is instead watching him look for gloves with this little half smile on his face. Jack seems pretty relaxed for once, which is cool. It’s good to know Jack isn’t always super serious, although maybe the fact that it’s Bitty that’s making him not be scary right now means it doesn’t really count, because Chowder can’t imagine anyone _not_ being happy around Bitty.

 

“Okay Chowder,” Bitty says, holding up three pairs of gloves “try these on, they’re all waterproof so you can wear them in the snow. Let me know which ones fit best.”

 

Chowder takes the gloves. They all look pretty similar, but he tries them all on any way.

 

“Hey Bittle,” Jack says, picking up a pair of gloves and holding them out to Bitty with a grin, “It says these ones have some kind of special cloth so that you can use them with the touch screen on your phone? For your winter tweeting, eh?”

 

“You laugh, Jack Zimmermann,” Bitty says, taking the gloves from him, “But I will in fact buy these. Thank you very much.”

 

“If you start tweeting during games I’m gonna take your phone away for good,” Jack says, but he’s grinning as he says it so it’s probably not a real threat. Chowder hopes not anyway; he likes when Bitty texts him. He’s started sending out mass texts to the team when there are baked goods in the kitchen up for grabs but sometimes he send a text to Chowder early giving him a heads up because Bitty is the _best_.

 

Bitty eventually sends Jack off with instructions go find which store has the best sale on scarves and drags Chowder into a shoe store to look at winter boots.

 

“I think Jack is starting to like me,” Chowder tells Bitty as he laces up one of the twelve pairs of boots Bitty’s brought him, “He hasn’t glared at me once this entire trip!”

 

“Oh sweetie, of course Jack likes you!” Bitty says, “He just can’t help that his face sometimes looks...like that.”  
  


“Really?"

  
“Yes, really. Lardo calls it ‘Resting Bitch Face Syndrome,’” Bitty says, patting Chowder on the back, “Trust me, if Jack didn’t like you, you’d know it.”

 

Chowder doesn’t want to think about what Jack’s like when he really dislikes someone, but he asks anyway.

 

“How?”

 

Bitty dims a bit. “Oh well...like last year? Jack spent basically the first two-thirds of the season chewing me out every practice. He was kind of nasty about it too, real in my face…I’m pretty sure he hated my guts up until a little while before playoffs.”

 

Chowder stares at Bitty, speechless. The thought of anyone hating Bitty is unfathomable, like hating kittens or cookies or _happiness_ , but the thought of Jack hating Bitty is just…

 

“But you and Jack are like, besties!” Chowder says, “I mean, yeah, Shitty’s like Jack’s bestie-bestie, but you’re like, his bestie-who-isn’t-Shitty bestie.”

 

Bitty blushes and seems suddenly very interested in his gathering up all the boots that Chowder has vetoed.

 

“Well, we started getting along after we became linemates, but we really didn’t start hanging out until this year…” Bitty hesitates, and then adds, “I think he feels bad about me getting a concussion last year. He texted me a lot over the summer, making sure I was okay and we just started hanging out more this year since we’re living in the Haus and in a class together and everything. But I...I mean he’s still closer to everyone else than he is to me…”

 

Chowder thinks that seems like a weird thing to say. Like, yeah Jack and Shitty are one thing, clearly best friends forever and all that, but Jack and Bitty are like...Jack and Bitty. They’re just...are. They study together and have practice together and get coffee together and if Shitty’s decided to sit with Lardo instead of Jack on the bus ride to games or at team breakfast no one else will sit next to Jack cuz it’s like an unspoken rule that Bitty gets second dibs. Nursey joked once that they were like the team mom and dad which is pretty much totally right except that wouldn’t it be team dad and dad? Although that’s confusing. Maybe team dad and papa? Or…

 

“But trust me, Jack doesn’t hate you, he’s just kind of bad at expressing himself sometimes,” Bitty says. Chowder’s not 100% sure he believes him but it does make him feel better.  Bitty pats Chowder on the back again before gather up the rest of the reject shoe boxes and taking them back to their proper place.

 

As if he sensed them talking about him, Jack enters the store a minute later, carrying a shopping bag. He makes a beeline for them.

 

“Found your boots yet Chowder?” He asks. Chowder looks down at the pair of boots he’s got on. They’re pretty comfy and they look like something Nursey might wear so they’re pretty cool too.

 

“Yeah, I think so,” he says. He’s trying to think of what to say to Jack that isn’t ‘did you really not like Bitty last year, why not, how could you not like _Bitty_ , did something traumatic involving a pie happen to you during your childhood?’ when Bitty returns.

 

“There you are,” Bitty says before frowning at Jack’s shopping bag. “What’d you get?”

 

“Oh um, here…” Jack pulls out a scarf from the bag and hands it to Chowder, “They were having a buy two get one free sale so…”

 

“Wow!!!” Chowder says, and okay he is never doubting Bitty again because you don’t buy scarves for people you hate, you buy scarves for people you like and Jack bought him a scarf. Or like, at least got a free scarf that he’s giving to Chowder but _still_ , that means Jack actually does like him! “Thank you so much this is ' _swawesome_ , you’re the best!” Jack smiles and nods, and Bitty laughs before turning to Jack with a smile.

 

“That was awful sweet of you,” Bitty says and Jack does this little...shuffle/cough/side glance at Bitty thing before pulling out another scarf from the bag and holding it out to him.

 

“Here,” he says. Bitty’s eyes go wide and his face goes a little red. _Ha_ , Chowder thinks, _So much for not being Jack’s not-Shitty-bestie. I bet Jack’s never bought Ransom or Holster or even Lardo a scarf_.

 

“Jack, you didn’t have to do that!” Bitty cries.   
  
“It’s fine,” Jack insists, thrusting the scarf at Bitty again. “Really, it wasn’t that expensive. Think of it as a thank you for all your pies and stuff, eh?”

 

“Oh…well in that case...” Bitty takes the scarf from Jack and runs in between his hands. They’re nice scarves. Chowder’s is plaid, in black, white, and Samwell red and it’s super soft. Bitty’s looks likes it’s made of the same material and it’s gray and blue.

 

“I’ve still got the receipt if you want a different color or something…” Jack says, “Or I also got this gray and black one…”

 

“No, no it’s fine!” Bitty say, stopping Jack from pulling the third scarf out of the bag. “Jack this one is wonderful, thank you.” Bitty wraps the scarf around his neck and smiles. He turns to Chowder and asks “How do I look?”

 

“‘Swawesome!” Chowder says, because he does.  For the first time since handing Bitty the scarf Jack smiles. He chuckles too, and reaches out to adjust Bitty’s scarf.

 

“Here, wrap it like this,” he says, “This way you can pull it up over your mouth and nose when it’s windy.”

 

“O-okay,” Bitty says, and oh god, Bitty is totally _blushing_. And, yeah Chowder shouldn’t blame him cuz he’s pretty sure if Jack readjusted _his_ scarf he’d blush too (Jack is like, really handsome) but still. Totally blushing. Chowder has to literally bite his tongue to stop from asking right then and there if Bitty has a crush on Jack because Jack is right there and bros do not ask their bros if they have crushes on their bro when said bro is right there.

 

(That’s probably not, like, an official bro-rule but it _should_ be. He’ll ask Ransom and Holster about it later.)

 

“There,” Jack says, apparently satisfied with Bitty’s scarf and drawing away. Bitty’s hand goes up automatically to cover where Jack let go. Jack doesn’t notice because he’s quickly turned away to face Chowder and ask if he’s ready to buy his boots instead, which means that Bitty also probably didn’t notice that Jack is blushing too and oh my god he needs to...well probably not talk to Dex or Nursey about this. Shitty, he’ll talk to Shitty about this because Shitty’d totally know what to do about two bros who blush at each other after one of them gets other a gift and stuff.

 

In the end, Chowder buys the boots, some gloves, a hat, and this super puffy down coat that makes him look like a giant marshmallow. Bitty buys them all pumpkin spiced lattes and doesn’t laugh at Chowder when he asks for extra whip cream. (He does, however, laugh at the face that Jack makes when he tries the drink for the first time.)

 

And on the way home, Chowder adds another thing to his list of things-I’ve-learned-at-Samwell-that-I-probably-don’t-need-to-tell-my-parents: that when you have two bros who blush at each other (like, a _lot_ , now that Chowder’s noticed it) you let them sit next to each other on the bus back to campus.


End file.
